Chapter 2 presents the underlying economic principle of the WTO—the gains from trade—and how the WTO agreement translated that principle into an international set of trade policy rules. It also focuses on the basic arguments for “free trade” and what they mean for WTO. The chapter draws conclusions that most countries recognize that trade improves their overall economic welfare, the political forces that favor trade restrictions are strong and difficult for governments to resist, and that a global trading system allows governments to overcome the political opposition to trade liberalization and to garner the gains from trade.